The Viking Games
by UnderTheWillowTrees
Summary: Years ago, the 'Dragons' conquered the whole Barbaric Archipelago and made it law that every summer, there would be a tournament known as the 'Viking Games'. When Astrid Hofferson voluntarily takes her little sister's place in the games, she is forced to fight for her life alongside the boy who once saved it.
1. Notes

**Hey everyone!**

**So, you may know that I actually wrote a HTTYD/Hunger Games fic before, but I was reading through it the other day and I was physically cringing at how badly it was written.**

***shudder***

**So, I'm rewriting it!**

**Anyway, so the last time I did this I used Outcast Island as the Capitol, but then I thought:**

**'What if I used the Red Death as the president (in human form)?'**

**And then:**

**'But why would she be on Outcast Island?'**

**And then:**

**'But what if Dragon Island was the Capitol?'**

**And then:**

**'And the dragons were humans too? (Except the dragons on Berk and that)'**

**So, I don't know if anyone already had this idea, but if you had this idea, I'm sorry.**

**Few things to know:**

**1) This story will follow the plot of the Hunger Games very closely until the arena, when I will make it up.**

**2) The dragons have always been friends with the Vikings, like in the books, so Hiccup doesn't have a prosthetic (yet...)**

**3) Hiccup still has Toothless, who is still the only Night Fury (and yes, that means no Night Furies in the arena. I am a firm believer that Toothless is the only one. Sorry!)**

**4) Hiccup is still kind of a screw up, but his dad isn't completely disappointed in him because he has a natural talent in the air.**

**5) This takes place when the characters are their HTTYD 2 selves, but they're seventeen. Not twenty.**

**Well, that was a long AN, now, on with the story!**


	2. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon or The Hunger Games.**

* * *

Thirty two years before Astrid Hofferson was born, the 'Dragons' managed to conquer the entire Barbaric Archipelago.

They laid siege to all thirteen of the islands that were near Dragon Island, completely destroying the thirteenth island in the process.

But the Dragons' leader, Asger, was killed in the final battle on Berk, leaving his sixteen year old daughter, Thora (or the 'Red Death' as she was often referred to as, due to her crimson hair and her thirst for blood) in charge of the Dragons.

Thora was distressed and angered by her father's death and wanted to make the islands pay.

But the Dragons had been weakened by the battles, and they weren't nearly ready to fight again.

So Thora had made it law that every summer, there would be a tournament know as 'The Viking Games'.

Each island (which had been stripped of their original names and given numbers) would offer up one young man and woman between the ages of twelve and eighteen to be sent to one of the uninhabited islands in the Archipelago to fight to the death.

Twenty four went in, one came out.

These 'tributes' were selected at a public 'Reaping' on their own island.

A Reaping was when two large, wooden bowls were placed on each island, one containing the teenage boys' names, the other, the teenage girls'.

It was purely up to chance, which made the Reapings even more terrifying.

But some of the islands weren't afraid of the Vikings Games, some even volunteered to enter them.

These were known as the Career Islands.

The Career Islands consisted of Islands One, Two and Three and the reason they weren't fazed by the games was that their islands were closer to Dragon Island and they had a much easier time negotiating food and weapons to train with.

Basically, as the island number got higher, the quality of life got lower.

Meaning that if you lived on Island Twelve (Berk), your life was awful, and this wasn't helped by the fact that Asger was killed on Island Twelve.

Life was bleak for everyone but the Dragons and the Career Islands.

But then a girl named Astrid Hofferson was born, and seventeen years later, everything began to change.


	3. Hunting

Astrid Hofferson was perched on a boulder in Island Twelve's forest, her bow loaded and aimed directly at the heart of a yak that had strayed from the safety of the village.

Though she loved her bow, Astrid would have liked to try her hand with a bigger weapon, like an axe or a sword, but there was no way her family would be able to afford anything like that.

And bows were better for hunting anyway.

Astrid blew her hair out of her eyes and got ready to let the arrow fly.

"What are you gonna do with _that_, 'Striddy?" called a voice from behind her, startling the yak and making it sprint away.

Panicking, Astrid shot the arrow blindly, missing the animal by about a centimetre.

"Godsdamnit," she hissed under her breath before standing up on her boulder, jumping off it and turning to face the speaker. "You know, that could have fed my family for at least two weeks!"

"And it would have gotten you in trouble," smirked Eret, Astrid's best friend.

Eret had dark brown, almost black, hair and stormy grey eyes. He also had a few dark hairs sprouting from his chin.

Basically, he was the complete opposite of Astrid who had shiny blonde hair and icy blue eyes.

He was also five years older than her, meaning that he hadn't had to take part in a Reaping for four years.

"How exactly did you plan on getting that through town without being seen?" questioned Eret, a smug smile on his face.

Astrid spluttered for an answer, but just ended up giving him a fierce glare and punching him in the arm, hard.

"That didn't hurt," said Eret.

"Yes, it did," sighed Astrid, turning away from him and reloading her bow.

"Yep, you're right. It did," squeaked Eret, rubbing his arm.

"Mm. So, when's the Reaping start?" asked Astrid as she looked up at the tree tops for any birds she could shoot.

"In an hour," answered Eret as he loaded his own bow.

"Right," said Astrid. "We'd better leave in about half an hour then,"

"Yep. You need to make yourself look less... Island Twelve-y," chuckled Eret.

"Shut up," sniggered Astrid, before aiming her bow up at a fat bird sat on a low branch and sending the arrow straight through the bird's eye, killing it instantly.

Astrid hurried over to retrieve the fallen bird and when she reached Eret again, he had a dark look on his face.

"What is it?" asked Astrid, stuffing the bird into her threadbare game bag.

"How many times is your name in the bowl today?" asked Eret.

When you were twelve, your name went into the Reaping bowl once, when you were thirteen, your name went in twice and so on. But, if you wanted to, you could put your name in more times in exchange for food.

As a reminder of the Dragons' 'generosity'.

"Twenty-four," mumbled Astrid, fiddling with the string on her bag.

"They're sick," hissed Eret, pulling one of his arrows out of his quiver and twirling it over in his fingers. "The Dragons, I mean,"

"I know," agreed Astrid.

The two stood in silence for a moment before Astrid said,

"Come on, let's hunt some more,"

* * *

After about twenty more minutes of hunting, Eret suggested that they go to the Hob.

The Hob was once a house belonging to a cruel old man named Mildew, but he had managed to get a job working for the Red Death and when he had left Island Twelve, his house was turned into a black market.

It had been expanded over the years and was as big as it was ever going to get as it was already coming dangerously close to falling off the large hill it was on.

"Sure," agreed Astrid, stuffing her bow and arrows into a hollow log.

After Eret had hidden his own weapons, the two slung their game bags over their shoulders and began to make their way towards the Hob.

"It's Abby's first year in the Reaping this year, right?" asked Eret as they walked.

Astrid stiffened but nodded.

Abby was Astrid's little sister, and she was the only person in the world that Astrid was sure she loved.

"And her name's only in there once, right?" asked Eret.

"Yeah," answered Astrid, her hands clenched at her sides. "There's no way she's ever putting her name in more times than she has to,"

"Good," said Eret as he and Astrid pushed open the door to the Hob.

It was alive with activity.

With people buying and selling at different stalls all over, others sat at counters, drinking themselves silly and even the occasional sheep milling about near the food stands.

"See ya in a minute," Astrid told Eret, before making her way over to the stand that sold odds and ends.

Most of the buttons had come off Abby's second hand, fur cloak and she had asked Astrid to pick her up some new ones.

"Hey, Sigrid," said Astrid.

"Astrid," greeted Sigrid, the old woman with greying hair and watery blue eyes that ran the stall. "Wha' can I do fer ya?"

"I need some buttons. The ones on Abby's cloak came off," answered Astrid, pulling a small bag of berries from her game bag and dropping them on the counter. "Will these cover it?"

"Ah, thanks dearie," smiled Sigrid, taking the berries and ducking down behind the counter.

When she emerged, she was clutching five brown buttons and something gold.

"Here ya go," said Sigrid, pressing the buttons and the gold thing into Astrid's outstretched hand.

"Uh, Sigrid? What's this?" asked Astrid, picking the gold thing out of the buttons and showing it to the older woman.

The gold thing was actually a beautifully crafted pin in the shape of a ring. There was a Night Fury in the middle of it and it was clutching an arrow in its claws.

"Tha's Nigh' Fury pin," answered Sigrid.

"I know that," chuckled Astrid. "But why'd ya give it to me?"

"Fer good luck," smiled Sigrid, taking Astrid's hand and closing her fingers around the pin.

"Thank you," said Astrid, tucking the pin safely into her belt pouch.

* * *

When Astrid had walked Eret back to his place, she hurried back to her own home, threw open the door and yelled,

"Abby! Can you come down here, please?"

A few seconds later, Abby hurried down the rickety wooden stairs and rushed over to her big sister, a large smile on her face.

Abby was a pretty girl, with thick, blonde hair in two braids and sparkly, sea green eyes.

She was wearing a dark blue tunic tucked into a brown skirt, dark blue leggings that were frayed at the knee and her tattered old brown boots.

"Wow, you look beautiful," smiled Astrid, ruffling Abby's neat hair.

"Hey!" giggled Abby, swatting Astrid's hand away.

"Anyway, I got you a present," grinned Astrid, reaching into her belt pouch, pulling out the pin and handing it to Abby.

"Thanks! Is it a Night Fury?" asked Abby, holding the pin up to her eye to look at it properly.

"Yep," answered Astrid.

"Like Toothless?" asked Abby.

"Who? Oh, uh, yeah. Just like Toothless," answered Astrid, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. "Well, I, uh, I'd better go and get ready. See ya,"

* * *

**Well, that was the first chapter.**

**Hope you liked it!**

**Also, please check out my other stories (I would recommend my Hiccstrid Titanic fic) and please leave a review, because believe it or not, most fanfiction authors love reviews!**

**One more thing:**

**Eret as Gale? What?**

**I think it fits.**

**Also, if you're reading this and the second movie's already out and he's completely OOC, I apologise.**

**Kinda going for confident, slightly cocky but kind of endearing.**

**How am I doing?**


	4. Reaping

**Guys? I am really pissed off.**

**There's me trying to write the next chapter of my Titanic fic when I realise,**

**'I have no idea what I should write.'**

**So, I decided to try and write a chapter of this fic.**

**Screw writer's block.**

* * *

Astrid ran up the stairs and made her way towards her and Abby's tiny room.

She hurried over to the small, wooden wash tub in the corner of the room that was already filled with water, peeled off her grimy clothes and stepped into the tub.

Astrid shivered when she sank into the stone cold water.

Once she had scrubbed away all the dirt from her hunting expedition, she clambered out of the bath and wrapped one of the itchy towels sat on Abby's bed around herself.

Then Astrid walked over to her own bed to see an old white dress, a brown leather corset and some black slip on shoes.

Her mother's old Reaping outfit.

* * *

Astrid slowly walked down the stairs, fussing with her dress awkwardly.

"You look great," said Abby who was sat near the window.

"Thanks," muttered Astrid as she dragged her fingers through her hair, trying to get the knots out.

"Astrid?" came a shy voice from Astrid's left.

Astrid turned to see her mother, Ingrid, shifting on her feet and rubbing her arm.

Ingrid looked a lot like Abby, though she had dark brown hair that was littered with the occasional flash of silver.

Both Astrid and Abby had gotten their blonde hair from their father.

"Mm?" asked Astrid.

"Would you like me to do your hair for you?" offered Ingrid, gesturing to the old brush in her hand.

Astrid nodded and slowly walked over to her mother.

Ingrid gently dragged the brush through Astrid's hair before carefully pulling it back into a braid.

Then she reached into the pocket of her brown dress and pulled something out.

"You, uh, you left this here when you went hunting," said Ingrid, showing Astrid the tattered old leather headband.

"Oh, thanks," thanked Astrid, forcing a smile as she took the headband and fastened it around her head.

Suddenly, a loud horn sounded in the distance and Abby gave a start.

"Abby, it's okay," said Astrid, hurrying over to the younger girl and hugging her tightly. "You'll be fine,"

"Astrid? What if it's me?" asked Abby, glancing up at Astrid.

"It won't be," Astrid smiled softly, kissing Abby's head. "I promise,"

"How can you be so sure?" whispered Abby, nestling her head into Astrid's chest.

"Because your name's only in there once," answered Astrid. "The odds are completely in your favour. Plus, you have your pin to protect you,"

* * *

The Reapings were always held on the stage next to the Mead Hall, and that was where Abby and Astrid were heading.

There were already lots of people there, the majority of them stood in front of the stage, separated by gender and age.

"Abby? You need to go over to the twelve year old girls now, okay?" Astrid told her little sister, glancing over at the clump of frightened looking pre-teen girls.

"M'kay," mumbled Abby, hugging Astrid before going over to stand by one of her friends.

Astrid made sure she was alright before going over to the section for the seventeen year old girls.

She went and stood by a girl named Ruffnut Thorston who was sort of her friend.

Ruffnut had blonde, almost white hair that was in two braids and watery blue eyes.

She was wearing a pale green, knee length dress and dark green shoes and she did not look very happy about it.

"So, you're being made to wear one of these too, huh?" asked Ruffnut, glaring down at her dress.

"It's not that bad," insisted Astrid. "They look alright, they just make it more difficult to get stuff done,"

"Mm,"

Astrid glanced up to see the chief of Island Twelve, Stoick the Vast, walking onto the stage, followed by a woman with blonde hair and pale green eyes, wearing a blue, floor length dress that shimmered like it was made from scales, a sort of crown made from gold spikes and blue shoes that looked almost like claws.

"Hello everyone!" chirped the woman, hurrying forward and smiling out at the crowd. "How are you all today?"

Everyone remained silent.

Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Great!" smiled the woman. "Well, as you know, my name is Ava and I'm still Island Twelve's escort. I'm here to choose one courageous young man and woman for the honour of representing Island Twelve in the forty-ninth annual Viking Games!"

Ava giggled and stared out at the crowd, who stayed silent.

"We'll be getting to the Reaping in just a moment, but first, the chief must read a short speech about the games," said Ava, gesturing for Stoick to come forward.

Stoick sighed and glanced down at the yellowing piece of parchment in his hands.

Astrid felt quite sorry for him, he had been made to read the same speech every year since he had become chief.

"War, terrible war," began Stoick in an annoyed tone.

Astrid zoned out after the first sentence and her mind drifted to the place she would much rather be, the woods.

She was jerked out of her trance when Ava suddenly cried,

"As usual, ladies first!"

Ava scurried over to the large wooden bowl on the right hand side of the stage and dipped her hand in.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Ava snatched up one of the many slips and walked back to the centre of the stage, unfolding the slip of parchment as she went.

Astrid barely had enough time to hope it wasn't her before Ava called out the name.

And it wasn't Astrid.

It was Abigail Hofferson.

* * *

**So this chapter was like, two hundred words shorter than the last one, so I'll make sure that the next chapter is pretty long :)**

**Now I have to go and try to finish the next chapter of my Titanic fic.**


	5. Volunteering

When Astrid was thirteen and Eret had been too busy to go hunting with her, she had decided that it would be a good idea to climb up a little bit of a tree to get a better view of the game on the ground.

But Abby had been sick the previous day and had kept Astrid up all night with her retching.

Astrid had accidentally dozed off in the tree and tumbled out of it, landing on her back on the ground and having every wisp of air in her lungs knocked out of her.

She had led there on the ground for what seemed to her like hours, struggling to breathe.

And that was how Astrid felt when Abby's name was called out.

She only came back to her senses when her little sister tripped over her own feet on her way up to the stage.

"Abby!" yelled Astrid, her voice sounding oddly strangled as she pushed past Ruffnut and the other seventeen year old girls. "Abby!"

She had almost reached her sister when two heavily armoured men known as 'Peacedragons' grabbed her from behind and began to drag her away.

But then Astrid remembered something.

Something that had been long since forgotten on Island Twelve.

"I volunteer!" screamed Astrid, wrenching herself out of the Peacedragons' grips and stumbling forwards. "I volunteer!"

She glanced back at the Peacedragons and then up at Ava, who's green eyes were as wide as shields, before saying,

"I volunteer as tribute,"

The crowd was silent as Astrid glared up at Ava, her heart thudding frantically and her fists clenched at her sides.

"Oh, right, well, I believe there is an official-" began Ava, but Stoick cut her off.

"Le' her," he said, shooting Astrid a pained look.

He didn't really know Astrid all that well, but he knew her enough.

She was the girl who sold him freshly shot squirrels, she was the girl who illegally hunted in the woods, she was the girl who, six years before, he had told that her father had been killed by a Scauldron on a fishing trip.

"Oh alright," sighed Ava before beckoning for Astrid to come up to the stage. "Come on up, dear,"

"No!" shrieked Abby, grabbing Astrid from behind.

"Abby, let go," said Astrid calmly.

"You can't go!" yelled Abby.

Astrid spun around and hugged Abby tightly.

"I have to," Astrid mumbled into her hair before kissing her on the head and hurrying up to the stage.

"What's your name, dear?" asked Ava when Astrid was up on the stage.

"Astrid Hofferson," mumbled Astrid, glancing down at her sobbing little sister who had gone over to their mother.

"And how old are you?" questioned Ava.

"Seventeen," muttered Astrid, glancing at the Screener dragon that was positioned just in front of the stage.

Screeners were an odd type of dragon.

They were quite small, but had enormous silver wings.

Basically the females would capture images through their eyes and then send them to the males who would project the images on their wings.

They were supposed to use it for hunting and for building nests, but the Dragons had managed to train them so that they would show everyone what was happening in the Viking Games.

"And why did you volunteer for Abigail?" asked Ava.

"She's my sister," answered Astrid, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

"Well, let's have a big hand for Island Twelve's very first volunteer, Astrid Hofferson!" smiled Ava, clapping her hands politely.

The crowd didn't begin to clap.

Instead they all kissed the three middle fingers on their left hands and held them up to Astrid.

It was a sign that was usually only used at warriors' funerals.

It was a sign of respect, of commiseration and of farewell.

"Lovely," said Ava, her voice losing its perky tone. "Now, let's get to the boys, shall we?"

She flashed a small smile at the crowd before strolling over to the bowl on the left, sticking her hand in and snatching up a name at random.

Then she hurried back to the front of the stage and unfolded the slip.

"Hiccup Haddock!" called Ava.

Astrid sucked in a breath and whipped her head around to look down at the crowd of seventeen year old boys.

Hiccup was the chief's son. Surely he hadn't put his name in more times than necessary?

Astrid quickly picked Hiccup out of the crowd.

He had tussled, auburn-brown hair and shiny, forest green eyes. He also had a few freckles strewn across his nose and on his cheeks.

Slowly, Hiccup began to make his way up to the stage, with no one but the wind offering to take his place.

The seventeen year old boy finally got up onto the stage and glanced at Astrid, who refused to meet his eye.

"And you're seventeen too, are you?" asked Ava, pulling Hiccup closer to Astrid.

"Mm," answered Hiccup, shifting on his feet awkwardly.

"Wonderful!" chirped Ava, regaining her buoyant attitude. "And here we have our tributes, Astrid Hofferson and Hiccup Haddock! Well, go on you two, shake hands!"

Astrid turned to Hiccup and clasped his hand.

And when their palms connected, Astrid recalled something that had happened years ago, and judging by the look in Hiccup's eye, he remembered it too.

* * *

_Astrid stumbled through the village, rain pouring down around her in torrents._

_She was starving and cold and no one was willing to help her._

_Astrid sank to the ground and leant against the well, tears rolling down her cheeks._

_The eight year old girl glanced over at the forge, which had a warm orange glow spilling out of the windows._

_Suddenly, a small boy clutching a loaf of bread poked his head out of the door and looked over at Astrid._

_And in an instant, the bread the boy had been holding was at Astrid's feet and the boy was gone._

_She stared at the loaf in disbelief for a moment before snatching it up, tucking it under her shirt and running home as fast as her exhausted legs would allow._

* * *

Astrid quickly dropped Hiccup's hand as if it were red hot and glanced at Ava who was smiling at both of them.

"Now, shake hands with the chief," grinned Ava, pulling them both over to Stoick.

Astrid quickly shook hands with the large man, before stepping out of the way for Hiccup.

Stoick looked devastated as he shook his son's hand, which was miniscule compared to his own.

"C-congratulations, both of you," said Stoick.

"Thank you," muttered Hiccup and Astrid before Ava ushered them off the stage.

The two Peacedragons that had grabbed Astrid marched the three of them down to the docks, where an enormous ship was floating, dwarfing the Island Twelve ships next to it.


	6. Talking

**Wow. It's been a while since this was updated, huh?**

**Sorry guys!**

**So, here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

Ava ushered Hiccup and Astrid onto the massive ship before smiling at them, showing off her pearly white teeth.

"Okay, so you'll have half an hour to say goodbye to your friends and family. After all, at least one of you will never see them again," she said, completely unaware that was she had just said had set Astrid's teeth on edge.

Astrid clenched her fists and scowled at the older woman and Hiccup gave her a glare.

"What?" asked Ava, her smile falling off her face.

"Nothing," Astrid muttered darkly, unclenching her fists.

Ava had been raised differently to Hiccup and Astrid. She didn't know that most of the Islands hated the games. She didn't realise that Astrid had volunteered for Abby to save her, not because she particularly wanted to be killed.

It was these facts alone that prevented Astrid from snapping Ava's arm then and there.

"Right. Anyway, you'll be seeing your families in your rooms which are just down that hallway there," Ava told them, pointing at the hall that was just behind them. "There are two doors, boys on the left and girls on the right. And no going into each other's rooms in the night, do you understand?"

Astrid flushed bright red and clenched her fists again, while Hiccup sucked in a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"D-don't worry about, uh, _that_," Hiccup assured her.

"At all," stated Astrid, her cheeks still burning.

"Alright then," smiled Ava. "Go on then! Your families will be here in a few minutes."

Hiccup and Astrid nodded before turning away from her and walking down the hallway.

When they reached the two doors that Ava had mentioned, they glanced at each other for a split second before turning and hurrying into their respective rooms.

Astrid slammed the wooden door shut behind her and leaned against it, turning everything that had happened in the last hour over in her mind.

She stood there for a moment before she shook her head and took a proper look around her room.

It was about the same size as her and Abby's room and a lot more luxurious.

The wooden floor was smooth, unlike the rough floors at her house.

The bed in the left hand corner was big enough for two people and was covered in blue sheets which looked as though they were made of silk.

A blue rug had been placed in the very middle of the floor and there was a painting of a blue Deadly Nadder on the wall that looked a lot like the dragon she had befriended in the woods that Eret did not get along with, Stormfly.

Astrid walked over to the bed and sat down, running her hand over the silky sheets.

A few minutes later, the door burst open and a blonde blur flew towards Astrid.

"Woah, Abby!" cried Astrid as her little sister wrapped her arms around her neck and buried her face into her shoulder.

"Why d-did you d-do that?" sobbed Abby. "I-I could've w-won th-the games and-"

"I had to, Abby. I had to," Astrid muttered into her sister's hair.

"No, you didn't," sniffed Abby.

"I did," said Astrid before glancing up to see her mother standing in the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself and looking as though she was fighting tears.

"Astrid-" began Ingrid, but Astrid cut her off.

"No. Don't speak. Just listen," she said, pulling Abby off her and standing up. "You can't leave again. It's not like when dad died because this time, I won't be there."

"But-"

"Eret'll bring you game. Don't you dare let Abby go into the woods," snapped Astrid.

"I won't," whispered Ingrid, a stray tear slipping down her slightly wrinkled cheek.

"Don't cry," spat Astrid, roughly pulling her mother in for a hug. "Don't."

All too soon, one of the Peacedragons from earlier walked into the room and demanded that Ingrid and Abby left.

Abby gave Astrid a quick kiss on the cheek, pressed something into her palm and whispered,

"To protect you."

And then both Astrid's mother and sister were gone and she was never going to see them again.

Astrid glanced down at the thing Abby had given her.

It was the golden pin she had given her before.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she pinned it to her dress before sitting down again and wiping her eyes.

A few moments later, Eret burst through the door.

He didn't say a word at first.

Instead he just pulled her into his arms.

"You're stronger than they are," he muttered into her blonde locks. "Remember all of that hunting? You can win."

"What if they don't have a bow?" asked Astrid.

"You've always wanted to use an axe, right?" grinned Eret, pulling away from her.

"Not to kill anyone," muttered Astrid.

"What else are you gonna use an axe for?" asked Eret.

"I don't know!" snapped Astrid.

"Doesn't matter. You can win this thing, Astrid," said Eret.

"And if I don't?" asked Astrid.

"I will be very disappointed in you," smirked Eret.

Astrid scowled at him.

"I'm kidding! I'll look after Abby and your mother, I promise," promised Eret.

The Peacedragon was back.

"I'll see you soon!" called Eret as the Peacedragon dragged him out of the room.

"Don't let them starve!" yelled Astrid but Eret was already gone.

* * *

**So, yeah.**

**I hope you liked it!**

**Also, if you're a fan of Hiccstrid and James Cameron's Titanic, please check out my HTTYD/Titanic fic.**

**But the first version is kinda bad.**

**I would recommend V2, but whatever floats your boat.**

**(Pun not intended but appreciated)**

**Please leave a review! They mean a lot :)**

**And also, who's excited for HTTYD 2?**


	7. Hugging

**So, 'cause you guys are super awesome, I feel like that when you give me suggestions and stuff like that, I should consider them and think about ways to put them into my fics.**

**And a lovely reviewer, _Sweet Tsubaki_, wanted to see Hiccup's side of the goodbyes. And I thought that that'd be a pretty cool thing to do!**

**So, the first bit of this chapter is dedicated to you, _Sweet Tsubaki_!**

**Also, sorry for any mistakes :)**

* * *

Hiccup leaned against the door in his room, his head spinning.

He had questions, hundreds of them.

Like, how in the name of Thor had _his _name, which had only been in the Reaping bowl the obligatory six times, been picked when Tuffnut Thorston, for example's, name had been put in eighteen times?

He guessed that the odds were just not in his favour.

Especially since that Astrid Hofferson was going to be competing against him.

He glanced around his room, which was about the same size as his own bedroom at home.

There was a fluffy green rug in the centre of the room and a large, double bed pushed into the corner that was covered in silky green sheets.

Hiccup assumed that Astrid's was identical to his, maybe with different colours.

A few moments later, the door behind him was flung open and his father rushed in, looking like he wanted to cry but was determined to remain stoic.

_Pun not intended, _thought Hiccup.

"Son!" cried Stoick. "You remember how I taugh' you-"

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, dad, but, uh, where's Toothless? I wanna see him," said Hiccup.

"Oh, uh, well they're no' lettin' him on the ship," sighed Stoick, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "Said he migh' break somethin'."

"_What_?!" snapped Hiccup. "But-"

"I tried, son, I really did. But they weren' havin' any of it," said Stoick. "Now, listen."

Hiccup nodded, though he was seething.

He was going to die and he wanted to his best friend in the world and the Dragons wouldn't let him.

Perhaps he could send something home for Toothless before he went into the arena?

Was that even allowed?

"You remember how I taugh' you how to use a sword a little? Make sure you use tha' in the arena, alrigh'?"

"Won't need to," said Hiccup.

"You'd prefer an axe?"

"No! I'm not killing anybody!" cried Hiccup.

"You're gonna have to," exclaimed Stoick. "You have to come home! I can' lose a wife and a son!"

"Dad, I-"

Hiccup was cut off when Stoick did something he hadn't done in years.

He pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

Hiccup was shocked for a moment, before he buried his face into his father's massive beard.

"Come home, alrigh'?" muttered Stoick, before he pulled away from Hiccup and walked out of the door because he was sure that if he stayed in there a moment longer, he was going to burst into tears.

And he didn't want Hiccup to see him cry.

* * *

Astrid flopped back onto her bed and closed her eyes.

She hadn't realised how tired she was.

Her eyes ached and she wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep right then.

But another person had walked through the door.

Astrid quickly sat up to see Chief Stoick walking into her room, his eyes filled with tears.

She had never seen him cry. In fact, she hadn't even been sure if he was capable of it.

Apparently, he was.

Astrid guessed he had just seen his son, possibly for the last time.

"Oh, hey, chief," said Astrid awkwardly, standing up out of respect.

"Astrid," nodded Stoick.

The two stood in silence for a moment before Stoick coughed and said,

"I-I just wanted to ask you if you can look ou' fer Hiccup in the arena. You know he's no' exactly- well, you know."

"I'll try, sir," answered Astrid, smiling at him gently.

"Righ', well. Good luck, Astrid," said Stoick before hurrying out of her room.

When he was gone, Astrid waited to see if there were anymore guests before kicking her shoes off and laying down on her bed.

She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, even though it was only mid afternoon.

* * *

_"Abigail Hofferson!" called Ava in her sickly sweet tone._

_"Abby!" shrieked Astrid, attempting to push through the crowd, but they wouldn't budge._

_She couldn't get through no matter how hard she pushed and she could see Abby clambering up onto the stage and standing next to Ava._

_"Abby!" she screamed again._

_Abby looked over at her, with cold, unforgiving eyes._

* * *

"Abby!" yelled Astrid, her eyes snapping open as she sat up.

She glanced around.

Blue rug, silk sheets.

She was still in her room on the Island Twelve's tribute ship.

Astrid rubbed her eyes, scrambled out of bed and padded over to the small, circular window that was next to her bed.

The sky was a pale blue, with big puffy white clouds dotted around it.

Island Twelve was no longer in sight, so she guessed it was morning already.

How long had she slept?

Astrid never slept that long, she preferred to hunt until it was too dark and then wake up quite early to get even more hunting done.

"Huh," said Astrid.

* * *

"Yeah, but wouldn't you just light a fire?" asked Hiccup as he sat at the breakfast table with his and Astrid's mentor, Gobber.

Gobber had won the twelfth Viking Games when he was sixteen, which meant that he would mentor all of the other Island Twelve tributes.

And seeing as no one else from Island Twelve had ever won the games, he had to do it all by himself.

No one really knew _how _Gobber had won, as he wasn't particularly good looking, which would have gotten him sponsors, he wasn't exactly the sharpest sword in the forge and there were tributes who were much stronger than him that year.

"Well, it keeps y' warm bu' it also gets y' killed," replied Gobber, pouring mead from a small wooden bottle into his mug of yak's milk.

"What gets you killed?" asked Astrid as she walked into the room, wearing a dark green dress much like the one Ruffnut had worn for the Reaping.

* * *

**So, this was pretty short.**

**Sorry.**

**In other news that's far more exciting than this chapter,**

**DID YOU SEE THE MORE BADASS VERSION OF THE OBAMA CLIP BECAUSE IT'S BEAUTIFUL.**


	8. Prepping

Hiccup glanced up at Astrid as she walked into the room.

"Lighting a fire. I was just asking how to find shelter," he answered as she sat down next to him.

"Oh. And how do you find shelter?" asked Astrid, looking over at Gobber who was taking deep gulps from his mead spiked milk.

"Pass me tha' jam?" he asked, completely ignoring her question and grabbing a crispy roll from the basket in the middle of the table.

"How do you find shelter?" snapped Astrid, glaring at Gobber.

She had never been the most patient person and, seeing that her life was actually at risk, she didn't exactly appreciate her mentor blatantly ignoring her question.

"I'll ge' it myself," sighed Gobber, reaching across the table.

As quick as a flash, Astrid snatched up a sharp knife and sank it into the table right between Gobber's fingers.

Ava, who was sat on the sofa a little way away from the breakfast table, gasped and hissed,

"That is mahogany!"

Gobber glanced down at the knife before yanking it out of the table and handing it to Astrid.

"Throw it," he told her.

Astrid stood up and launched the knife across the room, making Ava shriek.

The knife lodged itself between two wooden panels, making Astrid look better than she actually was.

"An' wha' can you do?" Gobber asked Hiccup as Astrid thumped back down into her chair.

"Nothing," replied Hiccup.

"What about all that sword training your dad made you do?" asked Astrid.

How did she know about that?

Apparently, Astrid paid more attention to the boy with the bread than she thought.

Hiccup shrugged.

"Righ'. We'll work on tha'," said Gobber. "Anyway, you wanna know how t' stay alive?"

Astrid nodded, an annoyed look on her face.

"Ya get people t' like you," grinned Gobber.

Astrid's eyebrows scrunched together.

"Oh! No' wha' you were expectin'? Well, when you're in th' arena and you're starvin' or freezin', some food, some water or even a knife can mean th' difference between life an' death," Gobber told Hiccup and Astrid. "And those things come from sponsors an' t' ge' sponsors, you have t' ge' people t' like you. Ge' it?"

Hiccup and Astrid nodded.

"Is anyone going to get this knife out of the wall?" asked Ava, standing up and stomping over to the knife lodged in between the wooden panels.

She grabbed the handle and went to tug it out, but it wouldn't budge.

"Can somebody-"

"Look, there it is," said Hiccup, jumping out of his chair and hurrying over to the window.

The ship had just pulled into the docks at Dragon Island.

Hundreds of people were gathered at the harbour, all wearing clothes that resembled Deadly Nadders, Monstrous Nightmares, Zipplebacks, Gronckles and many other different kinds of dragons.

They were all screaming loudly as they watched the Island Twelve tribute ship come into the docks and when they saw Hiccup at the window, they began to yell and shriek louder.

Astrid glared at him.

"What?" asked Hiccup as he caught sight of her. "Some of them have gotta be rich, right?"

He had a point.

For some reason, this irritated Astrid so she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

* * *

Astrid stood in her bedroom on the Island Twelve ship, completely naked as she watched her prep team circle around her, looking her up and down.

"She has promise," said one of the two women, Dagny. "Nice face."

"True, true," added Dagmar, the other woman. "And her hair's alright, too."

"Mm. Much better than that last girl," smirked the only man in the room, Gunnar.

"Can I put my robe back on now?" asked Astrid.

"No," answered Dagny.

"Get in the bathtub," said Gunnar, pointing at the wooden wash tub that had been dragged into the room just for Astrid.

"Fine," grumbled Astrid.

She clambered into the warm water and allowed her prep team to scrub all of the dirt and grime from her body and hair.

When she got out of the bath, she was finally allowed to put her silky blue robe back on and was made to sit on the spindly wooden chair in the corner of the room.

Astrid closed her eyes as her prep team began to towel dry her damp hair.

Once her hair was relatively dry, they brushed it so thoroughly that Astrid was sure that she would never have any knots again before they began to braid it back, weaving thin red and black ribbons into her hair as they went.

Carefully, Dagmar pinned her braid up so that it was in a sort of bun at the nape of her neck and placed a black headband with tiny red studs around her head.

"Lovely!" cried Gunnar, stepping back to admire their work.

"Isn't she?" beamed Dagny.

"Wish Aki had chosen a brighter colour though. Blue would have gone brilliantly with her eyes," sighed Dagmar.

Astrid remained silent as they perfected any imperfections and fiddled with her headband.

A few minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Oh! That must be Aki!" said Dagmar. "Come on, our work here is done!"

Astrid's prep team bustled out of her room, talking about what they were going to wear to the tribute parade that would occur that night.

The tribute parade was basically when all of the tributes would dress up in extravagant costumes that represented their islands and rode through the village for all of the potential sponsors to see.

As soon as Dagmar, Dagny and Gunnar had left, a man in his late twenties with jet black hair and a little bit of stubble walked into the room.

Compared to what most of the people wore on Dragon Island, this man looked quite normal.

He wasn't wearing some absurd scaly outfit.

In fact, he was just wearing a simple dark blue tunic and brown trousers.

"Hello," he smiled.

"Hi," said Astrid awkwardly, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm Aki," the man told her, sitting down on her bed.

"Astrid," replied Astrid.

"That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen. You know, with Abby?"

Astrid blanched at the mention of her sister.

It also surprised her that he had called her 'Abby'.

Hadn't Ava called her 'Abigail'?

Perhaps he had been paying attention to what Astrid was screaming when she was pushing through the crowds.

"Thanks," mumbled Astrid.

"And I don't think someone that brave should be dressed up in some stupid costume," grinned Aki.

He was right about the costumes being stupid.

The last tributes from Island Twelve (who had both died from hunger in the games) had been dressed up as big fluffy yaks to show that Island Twleve was the farming island.

"And think about it, what's your island most famous for?" asked Aki.

"Yaks and stuff," replied Astrid. "We're the-"

"No, no. It's something that the Dragons actually care about."

Something that the Dragons actually cared about?

Then it hit Astrid.

It was something completely unique.

It was something that was on the pin Abby had given her.

* * *

**I have to say, I really love Astrid's prep team's names!**

**Anyway, I have taken this story out of the crossover section mainly because it was just a pain for me to find it when I couldn't be bothered to log in or type it into the search box.**

**So yeah.**

**Please review!**

**And sorry for any mistakes!**


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